Chapter 60: My Military Strengthening Measures II

  The new aircraft is a development of the all-metal agricultural aircraft, with the biggest improvement being the change from the original biplane layout to a more streamlined high-wing monoplane layout, with greatly increased dimensions, named "Tengyun".

  The aircraft was equipped with a more powerful, lighter and more fuel-efficient improved aviation gasoline engine, featuring a wide enclosed cockpit with heating equipment, advanced long-range wireless communication/navigational equipment and complete flight instruments. Since it mainly flew below 4,000 meters, there was no consideration for installing oxygen supply equipment. The maximum speed exceeded 300 km/h, and the range reached an astonishing 2,300 kilometers. In addition to one pilot, the cockpit could accommodate three passengers or transport hundreds of kilograms of cargo.

  In the spring of 1902, the "Tengyun" aircraft was first used by the Taiyuan postal department to transport express mail. Later, in actual use, it was found that the "Tengyun" was safe and reliable, with good performance, and soon began mass production, developing into a product series with many models, widely used in various aspects such as postal service, aviation transportation, forest fire prevention, geological exploration, topographic mapping, natural disaster monitoring, search and rescue, agriculture, etc.

  Of course, the development of civil aviation in both places cannot be separated from the support of an airport. After several years of systematic construction and development, Ningwu Airport has established a complete set of scientific and reasonable training systems for pilots and ground personnel, management and operation methods, with its own airport, trainer aircraft and flight instructor team, as well as perfect communication, navigation, work and living facilities. A large-scale aircraft maintenance base and logistics support base have been established, and all aspects are quite professional. Therefore, taking this airport as a standard, two more airports were newly built in Taiyuan and Miaohua.

  Due to the long distance of the Shanxi-Heilongjiang route, the "Tengyun" aircraft flew at its most economical cruising speed, taking 10 hours for a one-way trip. Such a long flight was a severe test for both the plane and the pilots. Kang Fan solved this problem by selecting four suitable train stations along the Jinhe Railway line, each with a simple grass airport, basic logistical support facilities, and personnel and internal security troops on duty, to provide takeoff and landing services for the "Tengyun" aircraft. This divided the long journey into 5 sections of 300-600 kilometers, with flight times not exceeding 3 hours per section. The pilots and planes could get a good rest during the trip, making long-distance flights much easier.

  Later, Kangfan also established its own air stations in Beijing Nanyuan Base and Tianjin Base, the difference is that these two air stations are purely military facilities.

  Based on the "Tengyun" aircraft, Kangfan and the engineering technicians of the aircraft factory jointly improved and designed a special military reconnaissance type, which was renamed "Zhui Feng" reconnaissance aircraft to distinguish it.

  "Wind Chaser" reconnaissance aircraft changed to a cantilever monoplane layout, still with a fixed landing gear equipped with fairings. The cockpit was changed to a tandem dual-seat arrangement, with reduced dimensions. A 02-style aircraft machine gun was installed at the observer's position in the rear cockpit, which could be operated by the observer who also served as the gunner. When firing, the rear canopy had to be opened and the gun was mounted on a ring-shaped rotating gun mount, allowing for flexible shooting in all directions. It initially possessed attack and self-defense capabilities.

  The Type 02 machine gun is an improvement of the Type 96 general-purpose machine gun, with the most obvious external difference being that the Type 02 has a multi-perforated steel air-cooled sleeve fitted over its barrel, which also makes it fixed.

  On March 1, 1903, the first true air force unit was formed at Ningwu Air Base, equipped with 6 "Pursuit of the Wind" reconnaissance planes. Half a year later, it reached the expected equipment quantity: 24 aircraft, stationed in Ningwu, Huaiyin Air Base and Beijing Nankou, Tianjin Base Aviation Station, under the jurisdiction of the local garrison staff department.

  The shipbuilding industry in Tianjin is a core industry that has always been highly valued and prioritized for development, with preferential treatment in terms of funding, equipment, technology, and personnel. With the growth of Shanxi's machinery manufacturing industry and the rise of Tianjin's petrochemical industry, Tianjin's shipbuilding industry has received strong support from industries such as metallurgy, machinery, chemicals, electrical engineering, and petroleum, leading to a significant acceleration in its development pace, with capabilities in designing, researching, and building various types of ships gradually improving.

  After entering the 20th century, a series of medium and small-sized ships with new diesel engines as power and new steel welding hulls designed and built by Tianjin Shipyard had already performed quite maturely. The advanced concepts, technologies, processes, materials, equipment, etc. made those steam engine ships quickly outdated. On the other hand, the thriving Tianjin shipbuilding industry also drove the coordinated development of industries in various parts of Shanxi, gradually forming a manufacturing system with shipbuilding as the mainstay, laying the industrial foundation for building a powerful navy in the future.

  To protect the ever-growing fleet of fishing boats and cargo ships, as well as to ensure the safety of open sections along rivers and coastlines, to better carry out tasks such as route surveying, ocean exploration, anti-smuggling/anti-trafficking/anti-piracy, rescue of distressed vessels and crew members, fishery protection and escort missions, and more importantly, to reserve key technologies and qualified personnel for the future navy, with the help of the United States, Kang Youwei established the Tianjin Maritime Police Force, also known as the Coast Guard.

  The headquarters of the Coast Guard is located on the east coast of Tianjin Base, with a professional maritime school and other specialized institutions. It hired American instructors to teach and participate in management, cultivating professionals for the Tianjin Coast Guard and future navy. At the same time, large patrol vessels and light patrol boats developed and produced by the Tianjin Shipyard began to be delivered to the Coast Guard one after another. In May 1902, the established Coast Guard officially started its mission.

  The patrol fleet of the Coast Guard was improved and designed based on the "Free Wheel" produced by Tianjin Shipyard for Tianjin Shipping Company, strengthening the hull structure, enhancing anti-wind and wave capabilities and endurance, and equipping advanced wireless communication/navigator equipment, hydrological measurement equipment, fire-fighting equipment, rescue equipment, medical equipment and related professional personnel. Additionally, it was equipped with 96-style universal machine guns with bulletproof steel plate shields, possessing necessary attacking and defensive firepower. It can cruise at a speed of 12 knots for 20 days and nights continuously, and the maximum speed can reach 25 knots in emergency situations. Due to the improvement of living conditions on board, coast guard members can relatively comfortably perform tasks in various sea areas along the coast of the Qing Empire for a long time. Initially, it only performed tasks in the Bohai Sea area, but later, as the number of vessels increased, the patrol area gradually expanded to the Yellow Sea and East China Sea areas. After all 9 patrol vessels were fully equipped, the final patrol area will be expanded to the South China Sea area. By then, the entire coastal waters of the Qing Empire can see the majestic figure of Tianjin Coast Guard.

  The coastal patrol boats used by the coast guard and the new patrol combat fast boats equipped with the Heilongjiang border defense troops are of the same series, the difference is that the displacement has increased significantly, the personnel transport cabin was changed to a cabin for installing specialized equipment such as communication, navigation, fire fighting, rescue, etc., 96-style machine guns were added, making it more suitable for performing coastal patrol defense, search and rescue tasks.

  In addition, various types of auxiliary ships of the coast guard fleet have also grown from scratch and are increasing rapidly, such as tugboats, crane ships, dredgers, etc., and are quickly forming a near-shore quasi-military force with comprehensive ocean control capabilities.

  The uniform of the Coast Guard is the same as that of the Shanxi Police Force, with the color of the overcoat changed to navy blue for winter and sky blue for summer, paired with a white shirt and black soft-soled leather shoes. All vessels in the fleet are painted with white upper structures and blue hulls, with the English and Chinese characters "Great Qing Tianjin Coast Guard" sprayed on the bow and stern, flying the Great Qing yellow dragon flag, making them easily identifiable.

  The Tianjin Maritime Police Headquarters is responsible for commanding and coordinating the actions of all personnel and vessels. The headquarters, through its advanced and perfect wireless communication network, can establish contact with maritime police vessels operating in any sea area along the coast of the Qing Empire. While undertaking daily ocean management tasks, it provides free humanitarian services to various types of civilian ships passing by the coastal areas of this region, country and foreign countries.

  Later, the new marine search radar developed by the Electrical/Optical Industry Department was equipped with the vessels of the Coast Guard, giving the Coast Guard the ability to detect targets at long distances day and night, regardless of fog, clouds, and rain. This was a revolutionary progress in an era that still mainly relied on human eyes and ears for searching and reconnaissance, and it revolutionized the way the Coast Guard carried out its tasks. The rapid reaction capability, all-round service capability, and high quality of personnel demonstrated by the Coast Guard quickly won widespread respect in the international shipping community, and its reputation spread far and wide.

  As early as 1898, Kangfan began to develop submarines with Mei Xiang's classmates. After accumulating a lot of valuable experience in the process of groping and building several experimental boats, the pace of self-designing and building submarines accelerated. Kangfan convened a meeting with his classmates, requiring everyone to strive to design and build new-style submarines and torpedoes before 1904.

  "Why must it be before 1904?" a classmate asked Kong Fan in puzzlement.

  Kang Fan replied: "In order to catch up with the Russo-Japanese War of that year."

  The classmates immediately understood and got excited, each with a determined expression.

  It was decided to divide the work clearly according to each student's major, with different emphases, and to arrange their own work at non-fixed times. In the following years, all the work was carried out in an orderly manner at the Tianjin Shipyard. After five years of research and experimentation, in September 1902, the first three new-style submarines and twelve new-style torpedoes designed and built by themselves were successfully manufactured at the Tianjin Shipyard. Subsequently, extensive and systematic trials began secretly, covering almost the entire Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea. The results were thrilling, with the performance of both the submarine and torpedo exceeding design values. Kang Fan then named them "Jiaolong"-class submarines and "Yu Chuo"-style torpedoes.

  The "Jiaolong"-class submarine incorporates the latest achievements of Shanxi's industrial sector in recent years in high-performance alloy steel, batteries, diesel engines and electric motors, optical and electrical equipment, as well as forging and welding processes. Combined with a modern teardrop-shaped low-drag hull design and advanced manufacturing techniques, its performance can only be described as "unbelievable" by today's standards. The submarine is powered by medium-speed diesel engines when running on the surface, with a top speed of 12 knots and an endurance of 5,500 nautical miles at 8 knots; when submerged, it is powered by battery-electric motors, with a top speed of 16 knots and an endurance of 400 nautical miles at 4 knots. The submarine has a surfaced displacement of 1,050 tons and a submerged displacement of 1,200 tons. Its maximum safe diving depth exceeds 200 meters. It is equipped with six torpedo tubes and can carry 18 "Fish" torpedoes.

  The performance of the "Holland"-class submarine, which was finally formally commissioned into the US Navy on 12 October 1900 and represented the most advanced level of its time, was: surface displacement 58 tons, speed 8 knots; submerged displacement 67 tons, speed 5 knots. Maximum diving depth 30 meters. Armament consisted of a single 457mm torpedo tube, one 203mm pneumatic cannon and a rifle.

  The "Fish Spear" torpedo has a diameter of 533mm, is 6 meters long, and weighs 1300 kilograms. The shell is made of aluminum alloy, with a maximum speed of 46 knots and a range of 6 kilometers. Due to the use of high-performance gyroscopes and depth controllers, as well as rudder systems, battery-electric motor-opposed spiral propeller propulsion, and an internal combat unit equipped with 350 kilograms of high-energy mixture, the torpedo has high attack accuracy, no trajectory, concealed movement, and enormous power.

  While the most advanced British "Whitehead" torpedo of the time used a cold-running compressed air engine, it was slow in speed, obvious in its wake and easily avoided by enemy ships, far from being as reliable and fearsome as legend had it.

  After acquiring the "Harpoon"-style torpedo, the torpedo boat that Kangfan had been expecting could be built smoothly. The patrol combat speedboat that had been successfully used in the Heilongjiang border defense force and coast guard for many years became a truly powerful coastal combat speedboat after being equipped with the "Harpoon" torpedo launcher and new radar, named the "Alligator"-class torpedo boat.

  The "Crocodile" class torpedo boat was equipped with high-speed diesel engines specifically designed and produced for light warships, with a maximum speed of over 40 knots and a maximum range of 300 nautical miles. The crew consisted of 12 people. On both sides of the bow and stern, there were two "Harpoon" torpedo tubes, and on the bridge and both sides of the stern, there was one 96-style machine gun each.

  The successful manufacture of new-style submarines and torpedoes is a comprehensive project that tests the overall industrial, scientific and technological strength of Shanxi Province and the shipbuilding industry in Tianjin. Through this exercise, a large number of excellent engineering and technical personnel and industrial workers were trained and cultivated, more importantly, it provided an opportunity for the students of Mei Xiang to apply their rich scientific knowledge that transcends the contemporary era to complex system integration, during which a series of new technologies, new materials, new equipment and new processes were developed and widely adopted in military and civilian fields, laying a solid foundation for the development and production of more advanced and complex mechanical products in the future.

  With these two advanced naval warfare weapons, the coast guard forces have the means to effectively counterattack powerful navies in coastal waters. Based on this, it was determined that future near-sea combat equipment systems would focus on submarines, fast boats, light cruisers, and new military aircraft, and would not develop expensive heavy artillery and armor like battleships and battlecruisers.

  After the production of new-style submarines and torpedo boats, qualified personnel were selected from the coast guard troops to form submarine and torpedo boat troops. The training work was immediately carried out in an intensive manner, with the temporary training area limited to the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea nearshore areas. Because in this sea area, the coast guard troops had already done a relatively thorough job of measuring and exploring navigation channels, hydrology, seabed topography and other aspects, which could provide more detailed data for the coast guard combat troops, facilitating training work.

  Kang Fan personally supervised the training work and, together with the coast guard officers and men, went through nearly a year of trial navigation, training, improvement and perfection, finally making the new-style submarine and torpedo boat form reliable combat capabilities.

  In October 1903, after the completion of the naval port in Tianjin Base, all three new-style submarines and nine torpedo boats began to take turns on combat duty and were responsible for training new boat personnel. The patrol area was still limited to the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea nearshore, with a focus on defending the Bohai Strait and closely monitoring the Russian fleet anchored at Port Arthur.

  In early 1904, the Tianjin Shipyard began to concentrate on building "Jiaolong"-class submarines, "E"-class torpedo boats and "Yu"-type torpedoes in order to form a certain scale of equipment before the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War and make preparations for participation. At the same time, the development and design work of new cruisers and military aircraft were also carried out successively, but these two new weapons could not be completed before the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War no matter how fast they progressed, because the war was about to break out.